Could any serving TASOs or those in the know answer the following for me.
I am thinking of transferring to the TASO scheme (certainly the CO seems very keen for everyone to do so). Could anyone clarify the situation for me with regard to the following;

Pay
As I understand it a TASO gets paid C.Â£29 per day and a Q1 OCdt is paid Â£34.31 so this means if I transferred I would drop in pay?

Category
what cat are TASOs I understand that they are eligible for a Cat A bounty, I therefore assume that they are considered to be Cat A so does this mean that they would could be put in a position where they would have be appealing brown envelopes on the basis of full time education or would the lack of training prevent this?

Bounty
UOTC receive there bounty in Aug so would if I transferred after Aug and completed the necessary training would I be able to receive the cat A bounty in April?

Training Time
Is it possible to go on as many courses? TASOs in my unit seem to have probs with getting paid for them.

It certainly seems that this is this scheme is here to stay we now have around 60 TASOs

Many thanks

P.S
yes I will be asking the CoC these questions I am just interrested to get a view from any TASOs on the forum.

I got a pay cut when i transferred but they have promised me that this is a glitch due to the system being knew. Its now gone up since i passed MTQ2 to trained soldier pay (im considered a trained soldier, now isnt that scary!)

Im under the impression that if you have passed TCB/RCB you will stay on the same pay as you will still be an OCdt.

OTC bounty is Oct-Oct so if you transfer before then you will get the bigger bounty, providing your OTC has sent all the documents proving you have earnt it, unlike what has happen to a few of my TASO mates who might not be getting bounty.

No you wont get shot at in Iraq or Afganistan until you finish your degree, unless you volunteer of course

You can get paid for all the courses you do but it depends how good your new PASO is and most of all you getting of your arrse to make sure it gets sorted.

I'm guessing your in the OTC that set fire to senny this weekend, where they gave you that big sales pitch. Il tell you now that pay gets screwed up, your OTC pay come in 2-3 months later than everyone elses and also you will have to work for next years bounty and not just turn up to camp and remember your spoon

So, if your in it for the money, get a proper job. You should do it because your really interested in the TA after uni and finding a unit within Wales or because you really can't think of anything else thats not green to do before joing the regs and spending most of your life doing green.

no I'm not just in it for the money and I'm sorry if it seems like that. I was only asking about the areas that I was unclear on. I am currently not sure if i want to join reg TA or none at all after uni but i am leaning towards the TA so this seems an ideal chance to 'try out' the TA.

I was offered a chance to get on the TASO scheme and my OC highly recommended it but I decided against in the mainly because it didn't fit in with what I am doing and I wanted to get my commission as quickly as possible so I could get most of my courses done. Its a good scheme I believe your start pay is less but that will soon rise to the normal rate of pay for an Ocdt. Plus it does help you financially and better than get some sh*t job. So I would say do it.

eegeek - I am a former UOTC officer and have been involved in TASO selection and administration. The situation can vary around the country and between units so confirm this with your CoC for the pukka gen.

Pay

Initially you will be on a lower rate of pay. If you are already on MTQ2 pay it may be possible to maintain that rate but I would not bet on it. Bounty more than compensates for the lower rate. If you were to do 50 days you might be Â£250 down on pay but Â£600 up on bounty.

Bounty

Bounty should only be paid once in a training year. You may be able to con the system and get OTC bounty in Oct and TA bounty in Apr if you redo all the MATTs and days but I would make really certain about it before trying. The most important thing is, if you're going to get one bounty, make sure it's the TA one.

Mobilisation

As a TASO you will transfer to a TA Gp A unit and have Gp A mobilisation commitment. However the TA now operate a system of intelligent mobilisation where the unit CoC are consulted about the availability of individuals. You as a full time student would be classed red/amber and therefore at the bottom of the list. Under the current climate only TA personnel with specialist skills required by deploying units are likely to be compulsorily mobilised. You as an OCdt do not possess any of these specialist qualifications - MTQ2 doesn't count.

Training Time

There should be the opportunity to train with both UOTC and TA unit and go on courses/attachments/expeditions as well. Make sure you discuss this with your proposed parent unit and their TASOs to make sure this is not an issue. Where the problem can arise is TASOs attending adventurous training as this (bizarrely if you look at the current TA marketing) is not paid training for the TA. A decent policy and RAO within a unit can easily overcome this.

If you feel that you want to try something different, want to work with 'real' soldiers and especially if you are thinking of a future in the TA, or regs, give it a go. If you want any other advice / information feel free to pm me.

Blyth spirit et all,
Thank for your advice, very usefull.
After I asked a load of questions after another presentation at the last drill night on tuesday, this seems to be the result:
The admin is almost certainly going to be delayed.
Some PASO put a large amount of pressure on their TASO to attend their events, sometimes unduely a TASO need to be aware of what time they can and cannot give away from their course.
If a direct entrant then pay is C.Â£29 if completed Q1 then pay is C.Â£34,
At events where UOTC and the TA unit are inattenace then TASO is to support OTC unit.
No bounty in oct
There seems to be fantatic oppotunites to train with new unit- but thease requires TASO to put in time with new unit (and unit it embrace TASO scheme).

So I think I will go for the scheme but focus my training with the TA unit during the holidays as I do a fairly intensive degree scheme.

An intessting comment was made that the our units aim to have the vast majority of second years on the TASO scheme.
It is also possible to join the scheme if you are a reg burser with aproval from your sponsor unit.

(sorry for the short hand nature of this post, I can't be bothered to write anything else)

Although you should still be considered part of the OTC and do most of your training with them remember that you are being paid by your TA parent unit. It will depend on the attitued of your local Coy but there can be a certain amount of resentment directed towards OCdts who attend little TA training but appear to be swanning off on lots of AT at the Coy expense. Remember TA soldiers are unlikely to get AT in any where near the quantity or frequence of OTC Ocdts.

That said the TASO scheme provides lots of opportunities for keen guys, not least the contact with 'real' soldiers.

Admin can be a problem as it requires pay details to be passed between units but if you keep on top of it yourself it can work fine.

For anyone considering the TASO scheme you need to find out if your role, particularly once commissioned, as been clearly thrashed out between the OTC and your potential parent unit. There are two main options:

1. Stay primarily an OTC officer without a specific role in your TA unit, occasionally turning in to the TA for the more interesting exercises (this is likely to cause some confusion particularly to the soldiers and NCOs). However you do not have the responsibility of running a platoon and are therefore the demands on your time are less.

2. Take command of a platoon and be expected to run it as any other TA officer would. This will require your dedication and loyalty to lie primarily with the TA while you do OTC as and when it fits in to your TA training program. This gives experience in command which you can take back to the OTC and thereby improve the training standards in that unit. However attempting to do both takes time and dedication, it is possible to do as well as achieve a good degree but you will have to be organised with your timeâ¦ that said I still spent a lot of time drunk in my last two years of university but I did an arts degree.

My final comment is this; the TA is not like the OTC. It exists to provide trained soldiers to support the regular forces on operations and although it may be a constant struggle to get blokes to turn in, as officers and potential officers you will set the standards. The TASO scheme provides the best of both worlds but in order to make the most of it you have to work for it. It is worth it though.

What I do currently seems to be similar to the TASO scheme, except I do training with the BSTT instead of an OTC. Commitment to an OTC or TA unit is not really much of a problem, it's just to the BSTT (due to their program).

The BSTT exists entirely to give you the training required for you to pass out Sandhurst and take over your first command. The OTC in contrast does far more and officer training is only a part of its function, with my tongue only partially in cheek I would say that drinking and shagging accounts for at least half of the rest of its existence.

TASOs generally wear the capbadge of their parent unit but the confusion arises upon commissioning. Once a DETAPO has commissioned the BSTT has largely done its job and the new officer moves on to their unit. For the TASO this is not so clear cut as the OTC still requires young officers and COs are justifiably keen to keep them around. It is up to local commanders to make clear to the individual TASO what is expected of them and how their time is to be divided between the two units, if it is to be divided at all.